Book Review: Wicked Nights by Gena Showalter

Book synopsis: Leader of the most powerful army in the heavens, Zacharel has been deemed nearly too dangerous, too ruthless-and if he isn’t careful, he’ll lose his wings. But this warrior with a heart of ice will not be deterred from his missions, at any cost…until a vulnerable human tempts him with a carnal pleasure he’s never known before.

Accused of a crime she did not commit, Annabelle Miller has spent four years in an institution for the criminally insane. Demons track her every move, and their king will stop at nothing to have her. Zacharel is her only hope for survival, but is the brutal angel with a touch as hot as hell her salvation-or her ultimate damnation?

My review: As a fan of Gena Showalter, I had high hopes for Wicked Nights only for them to be dashed about a third of the way through. Having fallen head over chucks for the Lords of the Underworld I thought that this would be a similar tale of drama, paranormal beasties galore and dirty talking alpha males who say what they think and get what they want.

However, I found Wicked Nights to be more “preachy” than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it I just didn’t expect it to be quite so “faith related”. Zacharel – being an angel (albeit one who to begin with doesn’t really care much about mortals) I expected the unadulterated faith he kept in faith, in God and in the other heavenly beings. Annabelle, on the other hand, is a mortal who after having witnessed the brutal murder of her parents by a high demon gets put in an institute for the criminally insane, where lower demons come after her on a daily basis and she gets molested/assaulted by the good doctor looking after her.

My first reaction was “Seriously?” It felt like Gena didn’t know what to make happen in this book and decided she’d shove everything she could think of into 395 pages of drivel. Sorry, I still gave the book 3.5 stars for the sheer fact that regardless of my impressions of it – I did actually enjoy it. I felt that Annabelle’s sarcasm and wit and her absolute refusal to give up when faced with things that would make a weaker person crumble to pieces was one of the best bits in the whole book.

The other bits I enjoyed were Zacharel’s team of what are basically renegade angels. They were coolly aloof and sarcastic for the most part but vicious with their enemies and towards the end surprisingly respectful of their unwanted leader and his choices. I also enjoyed Zacharel’s change from steadfast unromantic warrior with no idea about love or women into an angel who falls in love and makes the right choice in the end.

The writing style surprisingly, I didn’t feel was like Gena’s other works of which there are many and I was slightly disappointed. I have the next in the series and I will read it eventually however, not any time soon.